Interview with the Grand Master of the LGLS published in Radar magazine
LGLS
10/15/20266 min read
On the occasion of the 12th conference of the Masonic Union of the Balkans in Belgrade, Radar magazine published an interview with the Grand Master of the Liberal Grand Lodge of Serbia, Vladimir Marković. In the interview entitled "Unity in diversity", the importance of regional cooperation, European values, the role of liberal freemasonry in modern society and the need to overcome divisions through dialogue, tolerance and mutual understanding are discussed. It was especially pointed out that political neutrality must not mean moral indifference towards injustice and endangerment of fundamental human values.
Here we present the interview in its entirety. You can also read it on the Radar portal:
https://radar.nova.rs/drustvo/konferencija-balkanskih-masona/
Two weeks before the Parliamentary elections Conference of Balkan Freemasons held in Belgrade
Unity in diversity
The Grand Masters of the Balkan States, with the presence of representatives of the Grand Orient of Austria and the Grand Orient of Switzerland, discussed European values as a basis for cooperation and the future of the Balkans.
On October 10, 2026, the conference of the Masonic Union of the Balkans (M.U.B.), an international organization that gathers masons of 16 Grand Lodges from countries in the Balkans, as well as the Grand Orient of France, whose Lodges work in the Balkans, was held in Belgrade on October 10, 2026. Coincidence or not, it is very symbolic that this conference is held only two weeks before the parliamentary elections in Serbia.
What is the Masonic Union of the Balkans, what are its goals and what was discussed at their conference, we talked with Vladimir Marković, the Grand Master of the Liberal Grand Lodge of Serbia, which hosted this conference.
Mr. Marković, you are already known to our public, not only as the Grand Master of the Liberal Grand Lodge of Serbia, but also as one of the important leaders of European Freemasonry, given that you are the president of the Masonic Adogmatic Association of Central and Eastern Europe and the author of books on Masonic topics. Can you tell us something more about the Masonic Union of the Balkans?
The Masonic Union of the Balkans is a very important link among Balkan Freemasons. It is not just a place where we meet once a year, exchange greetings and return to our countries. The Masonic Union of the Balkans enables the creation of a network of trust among Balkan freemasons, a space for the exchange of knowledge and experiences, as well as a space for joint educational, humanitarian, cultural and socially responsible initiatives. In a certain way, it is a laboratory of Balkan and European unity in diversity.
The history of the Balkans has shown us what happens when we build walls out of our differences. European history has shown us something else - that even seemingly indestructible walls can one day become bridges.
If the European nations, who have been at war with each other for centuries, have managed to build a space of cooperation that their ancestors could hardly have imagined, then the Balkans are not doomed to endlessly repeat their conflicts. We don't have to forget the past to choose a different future.
We do not have to stop being Serbs, Croats, Greeks, Turks, Bulgarians, Romanians, Albanians or members of any other nation in order to simultaneously belong to a common Europe. Just as we do not lose our individuality in lodges when we form a "chain of unity", European unity does not require nations to lose their identities. Unity does not require uniformity. It requires mutual respect and a common foundation.
It is time to finally understand that our differences do not have to be our weakness or the reason for new divisions. They can and should be our strength. It is precisely in our ability to gather different identities, experiences and traditions around common values that the possibility for a different future of the Balkans lies.
The essence of the existence of the Masonic Union of the Balkans is precisely that - to constantly remind us that our task is not to wait for someone else to build such a Balkan. We must build it in our lodges, in our Grand Lodges, in our societies and in the relationships we create with each other. As freemasons, we are called to be bridge builders: to preserve dialogue in times of division, to build trust in times of mistrust, and to defend freedom of conscience and reason in times of dogma.
You mentioned unity in diversity. That was the topic of this conference, and it is always a current topic in the political reality in these areas, and especially in Serbia at the time of the elections. In brief, what were the conclusions of this conference?
This topic for the Masonic meeting was not chosen by chance. The idea that people of different religions, nations, cultures, as well as philosophical and political beliefs, can live together as free and equal individuals, is not only one of the fundamental ideas of contemporary Europe. It is part of the very essence of Freemasonry. Long before the creation of today's European institutions, our lodges created spaces where people of different origins, social positions and beliefs could meet as equals. Therefore, for us, the discussion about the future of the Balkans and Europe is not a foreign policy issue. It is part of our tradition, but even more of our responsibility.
Perhaps more than many other parts of Europe, the Balkans know how difficult it is to live with history. For centuries, empires, religions, peoples and great powers have met and clashed in these areas. Borders moved, states arose and disappeared, and it is difficult to find a nation that was not at some point in conflict with one of its neighbors.
But the Balkans is not only a region of conflict. For centuries it has also been a meeting place of different languages, religions, cultures and civilizations. Therefore, differences in themselves have never been our biggest problem. The problem arises when we turn them into borders between people, when national, religious or political identity becomes more important than the person himself and when history is not used to understand the past, but to justify new divisions. Our peoples know very well the cost of such divisions.
That is why for the Balkans the idea of unity in diversity has a much deeper meaning than it seems at first glance. Unity does not mean that we should become the same. It does not require us to renounce our nations, languages, religions, cultures, traditions or historical experiences. On the contrary, true unity exists when we can preserve what makes us different, and at the same time recognize in others the same dignity and the same freedom that we demand for ourselves. We are not equal because we are the same. We are equal because our differences must not determine the value of a human being.
And that is exactly the essence of the European idea. The European Community did not come about because the differences between European nations disappeared. It was created when people found the courage to believe that even former enemies can have a common future.
The most important message that we can send today from the Balkans, from the gathering of Balkan Freemasons, is that nations do not have to forget their history in order to decide that they will have a common future. This meeting is our joint contribution to such a Balkan - a Balkan that will not be a periphery of European ideas, but their equal creator and defender.
You also mentioned educational, humanitarian, cultural and socially responsible initiatives. Can you give us an example of such an initiative?
Why not? Right after the conference of the Balkan Union of the Balkans, on Sunday October 11, under the auspices of our humanitarian organization "Nezaboravak", we organized a humanitarian concert by soprano Branislava Podrumac and the Belgrade Chamber Orchestra called "For Kolarac - from Mozart to Whitney Houston" for our guests from abroad and for the Belgrade audience in the Great Hall of the Kolarc Endowment. All income from tickets is intended to support the restoration of the Kolarac endowment, which was left to Belgrade by the great benefactor and freemason Ilija Milosavljević Kolarac.
This humanitarian concert was organized with the desire to, through music and culture, contribute to the preservation of Kolarc as one of the most important cultural institutions in Serbia. Kolarac is not just a concert hall, but a part of our cultural identity and a place where generations grew up with art, knowledge and the highest values of our society.
But this concert also has a wider meaning. We live in a time when culture is relegated to the margins of society, while public space is increasingly occupied by superficiality, vulgarity and the lack of an elementary culture of dialogue. At the same time, we are increasingly losing the ability to talk to those who think differently without it turning into hatred, enmity and division.
And precisely culture, in its broadest sense, teaches us the opposite. It teaches us to listen to each other, to respect diversity and to build common space on knowledge and mutual respect. That is why this concert is not only a support for an institution, it is also a message about the kind of society we want to live in.
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